By
Two weeks ago, Paris Saint-Germain put Barcelona to the sword in the first match of their two match Champions League round, winning 4-0 in Paris. Barcelona was savaged in the aftermath — grim takes were written, manager Luis Enrique announced he would be stepping down at the end of the season — and their chances of advancing were basically nil.
Fast forward to Wednesday, as the Barcelona and PSG faced off in Barcelona. After Barcelona went up 3-0 (and cutting the aggregate score to 4-3), PSG’s Edinson Cavani scored to put PSG up on aggregate 5-3.
It looked like the nail in Barcelona’s coffin. Cavani’s goal meant Barcelona would have to score three more goals to win — if the aggregate score had ended 5-5, PSG would advance because they had scored a goal away from home, while Barcelona hadn’t scored in Paris. That’s just the way the Champions League rules work.
But this is Barcelona. After pushing for nearly a half hour without success, Neymar put a gorgeous free kick past the PSG keeper just after 87 minutes:
That left Barcelona with two minutes plus stoppage time to find two more goals. And just two minutes later, Neymar put away a penalty after Luis Suarez was pulled down in the box:
Needing one more goal, and with 5 extra minutes to play, Barcelona threw everything at the PSG keeper, and with just about the last kick of the game, they got the winning goal and pandemonium broke loose:
It’s tough to properly compare what just happened to another sport, but it’s probably more impressive than the Patriots incredible Super Bowl comeback. Or, as one soccer writer put it:
My brain is leaking out my nose ama
— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) March 8, 2017
___
Photo credit: Getty Images
Interesting though that the referee organisation has launched an investigation and is probably seeing to apply some kind of punishment at the referee for “handing” the game to Barcelona. Giving them not one but two rather questionable penalty shots, among other things.
The ref in question has been suspended from partaking in all international games, as a start.